Dispensing machine



' P. D. PARSNS.

DISPENSING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED M An. 9. |922,

Patented Aug. 8, 1922.`

2 SHEETS-SHEET l ATTORNEY P. D. PARSONS.

DISPENSING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED III/III. 9. 1922Y IN VEN TOR Fatented Aug. 8. 1922.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

PHILIP D. PARSONS,

COIVIPANY,

or PHILADELPHIA, PENNsYLvaNIA, Assrerton To soo'r'r PAPE A. CORPORATION or rnnrisvnvnnra.

DISPENSING MIACHNE.

Original application led September March 9, 1922.

To @ZZ whom t may concern Be it known that l, PHiLrr D. PARsoNs, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Philadelphia, county of Philadelphia, State of Pennsylvania, have invented an improvement in Dispensing Machines, of which the following is a specication.

My invention has for an object mechanism, preferably coin-controlled, for enabling paper towels and other ranged within a cabinet, to be dispensed in regulated quantities; and in the preferred construction of the mechanism, l arrange the operative parts of such form and cooperating in such manner that one or a plurality or' coins may be deposited at a time and then the mechanism operated once for a single coin or repeatedly for as often as the number of coins deposited as the preliminary operation, the devices discharging or delivering a towel or varticle with each operation.

My object is further to so construct the operating parts that they are few and simple in structure and can readily be removed and replaced or substituted in part or in whole without the necessity of any tools.

Vi ith the above and other objects in view, the nature of which will be more fully understood from the description hereinafter, the invention consists in the novel construction of dispensing machines, as hereinafter more fully described and defined in the claims.

In the drawings: Fig. 1 is a front viewk of a dispensing machine embodying my invention, having the upper portion broken away; Fig. 2 is a cross sectional View of the same taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 'is a sectional view, similar to Fig. 2, but with the coin-controlled mechanism shown at the completion of its discharging movement; Fig. 4 is a perspective View of the coin-controlled mechanism separated from the case; and Fig. 5 is an end View of the ejector cylinder.

2 is the case and maybe made of any shape desired, but in the particular example, here shown, it is made rectangular in form and suitable for receiving a stack of folded paper towels 6, in any number desired, arranged one above the other and from which the lower-most towel is discharged at each Specification of Letters Patent,

articles, ar-

`lPat-ented Ang, S, i922.

1G, 1920, Serial No. 409,348. Divided and this application filed Serial No. 542,245.

vtheir middle. and throughout their length,

the shelf insuring a lirm support for as many towels in the stach as may be desired. 'The forward portion of the bottom part of the case is provided with a second inclined shelf 4 which extends backward and downward and terminates in av beaded edge 5, said shelf 4 acting to support the stack of towels at their" forwardportions, but so as to permit one of the under flaps 8 of the lowermost towel to fall by gravity and be sustained in position upon and so as to be received by the rotary ejector. The ejector comprises the cylindrical body `9 secured upon heads 13 fastened to the shaft 14 journaled in the casing, the said body being slit along its length to form the outwardly extending jaw 11 and the inwardly bent flange 10 and providing between them the longitudinal throat 12 to receive the fla 8 of the towel when the ejector is rotated. 15 is a coil spring arranged about shaft 14, having one end connected with one of the heads 13 of the ejector and the other end connected with the main case, so that normally the ejector is returned to the position shown in Fig. 2 with the jaw 11 resting against the beaded edge 3a of the shelf 3. The rotary ejector 9 is operated by the mechanism to be now described The end of the ejector shaft 14 is provided with a pinion 16. Meshing with the pinion 16 is a driving gear 17 provided with suilicient teeth to give the pinion and ejector approximately three-quarters of a revolution as a minimum. rlhe driving gear 17 is provided with a wing nut. 2O by which to rotate it and also has a coin slot 18 through it, providing a runway 36 for theJ coin deposited through the slot 19 in the front plate 126 of the case. Normally, the slot in the gear 17 is inclined so that 'the coin will roll backward through the gear to a position in front of the pinion 16 and coin carrier gear Q1, as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 2. Coin carrying gear 21 is provided with teeth engaging the pinion 16 and is driven by said pinion and hence rotates in the same direction as the operatpinion 16 by contact with shelf but Vttheejecting movement (Fig. 3),. it is important that thev parts shall be arrested at ing or driving gear 17; it is journaled upon stud -22--ai`id has a slot 23 into `which a `iXed pin 24 extendsl to limit the extent' of its rotary movements. This is not so ma'-` terial in the normal position because the jaw 1.1 ofthe ejector 9 acts to stop rotation of (Fig. 2j,

thel proper time andthis is insured by con` tact ofthe end of slot 23 withthe' pinz2v4. The gear r2,1.is further provided with the coin. ,stop25, made in the. form of a lateral flange against the end of which` the coin -restsas shown in Fj'igg2; and moreover, the lower portion ofthis gear is` proyided with the coin guide floort upon which lthe coin rests, as indicated, said floor also providing runway for coins or slugs of smaller diameter which may ybe inserted in the inachine and whosev presence are not intended .tobe capablefof operating the mechanism.

.l guide 32 by ,which 'in case ofthe deposit of these smaller coins ,.or-Slugs, they `pass the gear-21 and leaving upon the the runway thereof are received j theyl are directed into rthe coin drawer 33', which has a portion di- .vided off for receivingv them.

Referring again to the coin carrierv gear 21 it will benoted that in addition to the operating teetli to' insure itsrotation, it

liasvt'eetli .338 and for operation respectively with. the pawls 29 and 2j to insure `complete or full Irotary `mow-zinent Vwhen a coin is inthe custodyof the gear 2l and to pre-vent` movement when no coin lis present. yfil-he pawls 2"? andare preferably ,pivoted upon the same lstud 28 and are so arrangedthat when pawl 29 down to engage the teeth pawlp27 is held. up clear `ofthe teeth 39, and viceversa. it will furi' tlierfbe noted that, the `gear v21 is provided with hightootli 276 which normally holds the-.,pawl 29y upf (Fig. 2), jthe `particular function ofth-isbeing vtoalso hold up the .part f500i this pawl to permit the coin to .rolif into position against the Stop andv positionitself under the said part 30 of *ther pawl. lt will now be understood that when rthe gear 2i is 'rotated clockwise with the coin ,in position, the high tooth 26freleases @the pawl 29 ybut/part 3Q thereof then -rests teeth 38.

therefore"continue withthe. other pawl 27 the teeth S9 of gear 21vand thus prevent back movement while the coinv #is in' transit.

upontthe coin and hence cannot, fall suihciently to enable the pawl to engage the rlhe discharging movement may When the positions oi the parte ieach'those indicated in Fig; the

coin is'thrown onto the coin guide 31 ot the *case and by itfguided down into the drawer f AThecdischargeof the coin releases the v yfp'a'wl29 and it falls into engagement with the teeth 38 andy at the same time, by its .Fig 2, so that There is room in gear 1i' fortwo addi-y tionalfcoina so that three coins lmay be decoin toje'nter yfar` enough operate with theipawl' part one coin ;v and pawl 2Q prevents the operation ofthe ejector if no coin has been' deposited and retained against the stop 25. Should an attempt be niadegto eject a towel without depositing the coin,` the high tooth 26 will be moved to` allow'the thewide gap in tlieteeth 38 and prevrent ymore than veryslight rotation of the ejector cylinder; andlrwhen the handle 20 isreleased, the springv 15 returns tliep'high tooth again `under the 'pawl 29,: as shown in `the parts are automatic.

posited, aiidgin such` event the handle 20 may be operated three times in succession, ejectingone towel at each operation. i i

AL short bridge piece 35 is provided between the gears, 17 .and 2l, toy *provide` a runway for the coin-from gear `to gear. lty

will be seenthat there are only four operative partts ,-jan`d theseare removably posij tioned;A hence theldeviee is exceedinglyV s im- `ple and not liable to; `become worn or get outfof order.y In case of breakage7 repairs may readily be inadeby a person of ordinary intelligence, The coin operable, parts are covered by an ,end platee() which mayA be locked or otherwise .secured in position tor rpermitting,access, when desired.

pawl 29 to en- More particularly referring to the ejector` i t operationythey forward rotationof the ejector receives the flap S' of the toweluin the 'throat 12, causing it to be bent over the jaw lland'pulled downward, whichactionl continues to alsov pull dowirthebody ofthe vvtowel back of the, front-plate i toa, positioii abovetheA lower shelf 4l end plaotically releasing the towel from the rear shelf ,3 also. I.The return of the ejectori'eleases the towel and leaves the same in, position on the shelfti to be` reinovedby hand. @When one towel is removechtlie flap or,- tab Softlie next loweimostgtowel falls 'bygravity vto position shown in Fig.,2` and the operation may be repeated by deposition ofor presence of another coin. Y

The mechanism is; designedto operate for any predetermined sized coin such as ,found inv the United States and foreignfcountries,

ano. the adjustment'is madeby cutting back` the stop flange 25 of gear 21'to'permi't the to j properly co- 30 and; to be carried with the lgear 21 'wheniV-:rotated .iio

The construction of myim'proved machine is such that the towels yare inaccessible normally, and only onev towel can be obtained It will be understood, however, that in those cases where the machine is installed and it is not desired that pay for the towels shall be eXacted, the machine may be employed for dispensing without coins by simply removing the pawls 29 and 27 ci' the gear 2l itself, if desired.

In this application no claim is made for the specific construction of coin controlled lock, as the same forms subject matter of application Serial Number 409,34i8, filed September i0, 1920, of which this is a division.

It will now be apparent that I have devised a novel and useful construction which embodies the features of advantage enumerated as desirable, and while I have in the present instance shown and described the preferred embodiment thereof which has been found in practice to give satisfactory and reliable results, it is to be understood that I do not restrict myself to the details,

as the same are susceptible of modification in various particulars without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention.

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Iletters Patent, is:

1. In a dispensing cabinet, a case providing a compartment having a shelf at the bottom and extending part Way across from the rear to support articles such as paper towels, combined with a rotary ejector having a throat opening for receiving a tab of the towels to be dispensed, hand operable for one coin.

- means for imparting a rotary action to the ejector for the greater portion of a revolu- 1v. Mvtion, and a spring for returning the ejector to initial position with its throat opening directed upward.

2. The invention according to claim l, further having a front plate extending downward from the case to prevent access to the interior of the compartment above the ejector.

3. rIhe invention according to claim l, further provided with coin-controlled means for normally locking the hand operable means against operation, but releasing it when a coin is in position.

l. 'Ihe invention according to claim 3, wherein the spring for returning the ejector to initial position also returns the coin-con trolled means to initial position.

5. In a dispensing cabinet, a case having an opening at the bottom and provided with supporting means for the articles to be dispensed, a rotary cylindrical ejector having a longitudinal throat opening provided with an extended jaw to one side thereof, hand operable means to rotate the ejector, a spring to return the ejector to its initial position, and a shield extending downward from the case over the front and upper portion of the cylindrical ejector.

6. rIhe invention according to claim 5, wherein the hand operable means comprises a pinion on the ejector axis and a large gear meshing therewith and provided with a handle part, and coin-controlled means for locking` the handle and gear against movement except when a coin is present.

In testimony of which invention, unto set my hand.

PHILIP D. PARSONS.

I here- 

